Episode 153. Rana Dershowitz, A Career Driven by Passion from Sports Law and Public Policy
The 92 Report
Rana Dershowitz went straight to Harvard Law School after graduating in 1992, partly due to the economy and her love for learning. She describes her experience at Harvard Law School, including her role as a law school "old timer" in Cambridge. After law school, Rana moved back to New York and started working on Wall Street, initially hating the big law environment but appreciating the people she worked with. Entertainment Law at Madison Square Garden and onto Sports Law Rana discusses her career counselor's advice to explore sports law, which she had overlooked despite her involvement in...
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152. Eugene Kim, Pediatric Surgeon and Wine Connoisseur
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Eugene Kim shares his post-graduation journey staying in Boston to finish research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute which was part of his thesis and also laid down the groundwork for his own cancer research which he has conducted over the years. He credits his understanding of science to his time at Harvard. He also worked at the now-closed Love the Border Cafe. Eugene reflects on the valuable lessons learned from working at the cafe and describes the unique subculture of the cafe's staff, including the Brazilian kitchen staff and the diverse backgrounds of the waiters and...
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151. Jonathan Hughes, Consulting at the Intersection of Strategy & Conflict Management
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Jonathan Hughes talks about his career in consulting, starting with an economic consulting firm, Putnam Hayes and Bartlett, in Los Angeles. He mentions his connection back to Harvard through CMI (Conflict Management Inc.) founded by Roger Fisher and Bruce Patton, and his subsequent roles at Vantage Partners and BDO. The Career Path As a Consultant Jonathan describes his role at CMI, focusing on complex negotiations and business partnerships, and his role in helping to start the boutique firm, Vantage Partners where he spent around 25 years as a partner. He later moved over to BDO,...
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150. Steve Petersen, From Improv to Philosophy of AI
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Steve recounts his senior year at Harvard, and how he was torn between pursuing acting and philosophy. He graduated with a dual degree in philosophy and math but also found time to act in theater and participated in 20 shows. A Love of Theater and a Move to London Steve explains why the lack of a theater major at Harvard allowed him to explore acting more than a university with a theater major. He touches on his parents' concerns about his career prospects if he pursued acting, and his decision to apply to both acting and philosophy graduate schools. Steve discusses his...
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149. P.J. Karafiol, Chicago Public High School Principal
The 92 Report
Show Notes: P.J. shares the backstory of his name and how he became a high school principal. He studied simultaneously in law school for a JD and in the Philosophy department for a PhD at the University of Chicago. After realizing he didn't enjoy law or philosophy, he taught math at Phillips Andover and later in Chicago. He helped start a new public school, Walter Payton College Prep, and has been a principal at Lake View High School for the past 10 years. Teaching Chaos Theory and Math P.J. describes his experience teaching at Phillips Andover, including teaching chaos theory. He found the...
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148. Scott Cole, 50+ Jobs Worked Since Harvard
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Scott Cole describes his initial struggles at Harvard, dropping out after freshman year, and returning multiple times before finally graduating in 2012. He shares his first dropout experience, including a brief stint in California and a return to Harvard for sophomore year. He details his various jobs and adventures, including working at a car wash, landscaping, and a research assistant position at Harvard Forest. Working on a Ranch in Wyoming Scott thinks back to his days working at a ranch in Wyoming, where he learned cowboy skills and participated in cattle drives. He...
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147. Anca Miruna Achim, Teaching about the Past to Speculate about the Future in Mexico City
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Miruna studied art history at Harvard, focusing on Renaissance art. After taking a year off to travel and visit Romania, she decided to study Latin American Studies and Spanish and Portuguese at Yale. She found the graduate experience at Yale challenging, especially the sense of isolation that can come with graduate work when it is not socially or politically involved. Miruna began traveling to Mexico for her research on colonial Latin America, focusing on the intersection of history of science, literature, and ritual. Teaching History of Science Miruna moved to Mexico City, where...
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146. Franklin Habit, A Long and Winding Yarn
The 92 Report
Show Notes:Franklin Habit talks about working in higher education administration (and elsehwere) before eventually finding happiness in his current profession within the fiber arts. He discusses some of the blind alleys he explored, including museum work, opera stage directing, web design, and online marketing. Building a Career in KnittingFranklin shares how he learned to knit from a veteran knitter and classmate, Eliza Lake. He describes how his blog about knitting took off, leading to a book deal and a career in teaching and writing. Franklin recounts the early days of his blog,...
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145. Diego Fonstad, Educational Toys and Ed Tech Tinkerer
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Diego kicks off the conversation with a quick review of his career path, which included working at a business school in Barcelona, consulting in biotech and healthcare, and working as product manager and product running product groups. He then went back to business school. He talks about his job at the business school in Barcelona and what prompted him to take it. He explains that the opportunity arose through a professor he knew, and the timing of the 1992 Olympics made it hard to resist. He shares his insights on Catalonia's cultural differences and the importance of knowing...
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144. Kellie Doucette, Unexpected Journey: Pink Sand Beaches to New Jersey Politics
The 92 Report
Show Notes: Kellie Doucette describes her journey as zigs and zags, with three distinct chunks defined by her location: Northern Virginia, Bermuda, and New Jersey. She worked for a small health policy consulting firm called the Lewin Group in Northern Virginia, DC, where she met her future husband, John Doucette. A 13-Year Stint in Bermuda Kellie, an actuary, began her career in the Bermuda market after taking the actuarial exams. She and her husband moved to Bermuda in 1996, and they enjoyed the adventure of visiting family on the East Coast and raising their children there. The reinsurance...
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Ivan Montoya, a graduate of Harvard and Radcliffe, shares his journey since graduating from the university. He married a woman he had been dating at Harvard and moved to California and Stanford for business school in 1995. Ivan worked in McKinsey in the Houston office and in Mexico City. He moved to New York in the third year, but moved to the Bay Area just as the internet went public and he started working on projects in technology. About four years ago, Ivan started angel investing in early-stage Latin American startups.
Ivan was born in Colombia and moved to the US when he was young. Both his parents were doctors, and Ivan was expected to go into the same field, however, after agreeing to finish pre-med, he decided to focus on development economics and did his thesis on Colombia during his time at Harvard with the goal of helping Columbia. After working at McKinsey in Mexico City, he returned to Colombia in 2013, and went back in 2018, and this was a hugely influential experience for Ivan. He believed the next 20 years in Latin America were going to be just as important in technology as China was in 2000 and that he needed to get involved. Ivan shares the beginning steps of this journey that led to 40 investments and involvement in the ecosystem with accelerators and startup communities in Latin America.
Ivan talks about the startup tech scene across Latin America, focusing on three areas: FinTech, property tech, and supply chain and mobility. He shares stories about his investment in early-stage companies, mostly in Spanish-speaking Latin America. The hotbed in Spanish-speaking Latin is Mexico City, which is considered the Mecca of the tech scene. The other Mecca is Sao Paulo, and Bogota, Colombia, which he refers to as the Mountain View of the tech scene. Ivan also discusses the accelerator scene. He is involved with several Latin American companies that go through Y Combinator, including Platon Ventures, which started in Chile, and other startup communities like Latitude and TechStars. He also mentors at TechStars in Miami, where many Latin American founders attend. Ivan's experience with Y Combinator has been invaluable, as it has helped many Latin American startups gain access to the tech ecosystem and accelerator scene. He also highlights the importance of fostering strong connections with local startups and accelerators to foster growth and success.
Proptech and Fintech Startups
Ivan explains the issues facing Prop Tech such as access to credit and the availability of credible property listing platforms. Some companies working with Prop Tech are addressing these issues, such as Go Home in Peru, which aims to create the Zillow of Latin America, and other real estate systems. Access to credit is also a challenge in Latin America, with only 20% or less of the population owning a home using a mortgage. He explains that, in the informal economy, many people lack access to credit bureaus, making it difficult for them to access services like renting apartments or buying a car. Ivan talks about his investments in startups with the goal to improve the financial infrastructure and improve access to credit for those in the informal economy. He invested in a company called Jeeves, a B2B credit card and talks about a concept in Chile, called Built Rewards, which allows people to pay rent and utilities with a credit card to earn rewards and improve their credit score. He talks about how he invested in a 20-year-old founder with no college degree who wanted to start a car ownership/lending company.
How an Investor Sources Startup Founders
Ivan has a unique approach to sourcing founders. He believes that there is a lot of bias in the market, as many founders come from wealthy families and have a background in the US. However, Ivan's approach is inspired by Silicon Valley which is more meritocratic, focusing on founders who are doing great work and have traction. He takes numerous first meetings with founders, often focusing on metrics and traction. His primary referrals come from other founders, and he works with these founders for anywhere from one to three months before making an investment. This allows them to learn more about Ivan and he learns more about their company. Ivan illustrates how this works with a story from a startup he invested in.
Ivan has been investing in startups for four and half years. He has backed 40 founders and helped hundreds of founders active in Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia. He also uses WhatsApp to connect with founders in Latin America, and he receives numerous referrals from founders, which is beneficial as they can vouch for Ivan as an investor. He is involved in the startup community and mentors in big groups, which has led to referrals from founders. One founder reached out to him after watching him talk on a webinar. He states that his job is not to refer a startup lead to an investor and how a selfie on LinkedIn helped raise the profile of many founders and shares what he learned from posting a profile for his cat on Instagram.
A Freemium Model to Help Startup Founders
Ivan talks about his approach to helping founders with his freemium model. He focuses on three areas: pitch decks, professional brainstorming, and connecting founders with potential investors. In the first 30 minute introductory meeting, he listens to the founders' pitch or describe their model, and then engages in 10-20 minutes of professional brainstorming. He provides constructive feedback and helps them understand their business model in more depth and explains how he helps them dig deeper to relay the benefits to an investor. In the second meeting, he introduces the founder to other investors. He talks about the pitch deck as a strategy document that is high leverage, and how he uses his experience as a consultant and McKinsey to help them refine their pitch. He believes that the first meeting should filter out potential investors and focus on assessing traction, product market fit, and indications of people wanting what the founders have created. He shares the key points of what he looks for when investing in both the founder and the startup.
Ivan states that he is an equal opportunity investor, with people from all backgrounds and shares stories of some of the founders he has backed, including a company called Foodology and a company called Pick App. He believes in the laws of economic gravity and believes that even those without connections to the US may still have resources.
Coco the Cat - An Instagram Success
Ivan shares his story of starting an Instagram account with his Bombay cat, Coco. It started as a bet with his daughter that he could gain 1000 followers within a set time period. So, he started posting pictures of Coco on Instagram and using various tactics, such as following other popular cats. He eventually got banned from Instagram for a day or two because he’d followed so many people the bots thought he was a bot. He then discovered that pictures with kids perform better, and he started doing pictures with kids. However, he hit a wall when he reached 6000 or 7000 followers, but he noticed a lot of comments with Japanese characters and decided to post during Tokyo rush hour, which took him over the top and he reached 10,000 followers.
Influential Professors and Courses at Harvard
Ivan talks about his experience with Professor Dominguez’ Cuban Revolution course at Harvard. He highlights the content's interesting structure, which included a three-day class with one position on an argument and the another on the importance of individual on the issue. One of the key takeaways from the course was the importance of being open to different perspectives and seeking the truth. He also highlighted the importance of being a lifelong learner and never assuming one's knowledge is the truth. This experience has helped him meet many people he is still close to.
Timestamps:
02:50 How Ivan became an investor in startups
08:56 Ivan’s areas of focus
11:39 The accelerator scene in Latin America
15:09 Investing in Proptech
19:47 Companies Ivan has invested in
23:12 Ivan’s investment model
28:50 How Ivan builds awareness as an investor
34:41 How Ivan helps founders through his freemium model.
39:01 How Ivan assesses founders and startups
43:48 A view on investors’ bias
47:13 Ivan’s criteria for getting a cat and what not to do on Instagram
Links:
Website: https://numundoventures.com/
Coco the cat: https://www.instagram.com/coco.the.cat/
The Tim Whitmire episode: https://92report.com/podcast/episode-49-tim-whitmire-founder-at-cxn-advisory/
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